Chronic Norm Focus: The Interaction Effects of Norms and Dispositions on Environmentally Friendly Consumer Behaviors

The purpose of the dissertation was to test Cialdini's notion that dispositional characteristics such as self-monitoring might chronically focus an individual's attention on one type of norm or another (Cialdini et al. 1991). In their focus theory, Cialdini et al. delineated three types of norms: descriptive norms (the norms of 'is'), injunctive norms (the norms of 'should'), and personal norms (the norms of 'I must or I'll feel guilty'). As an extension of their theory, a model of chronic norm focus was presented as a framework in which dispositional variables were depicted as moderating the effects of the three types of norms on behavior. The domain of environmentally friendly behaviors was chosen for this study due to its normative nature. The behaviors used in the study were search for information about environmentally friendly products, purchase of environmentally friendly products, and recycling. Eight hypotheses were derived from marketing, consumer behavior, and social psychology literatures. The dispositional variables were locus of control, responsibility denial, self-monitoring, public self-consciousness, private self-consciousness, social anxiety, attention to social comparison information, and state- versus action-orientation. A two-stage study was designed to test six of the hypotheses. Data were collected by questionnaires through campus mail from 163 university staff members who were the primary shoppers for their household. Mean-centered data were analyzed using moderated regression analysis. Significant regression coefficients for the interaction term between the norm and dispositional variable in a moderated regression equation would provide supporting evidence for the hypotheses. Results of the study supported one of the hypotheses. Private self-consciousness was shown to moderate the relationship between the personal norm and search for information. Contributions of the dissertation included conceptual and empirical extensions of focus theory.